Guaviare War

The Guaviare War was a war fought between Venezuela and Colombia from 22 November 1836 to 7 March 1838. The war saw an expansionist Venezuela conquer the Guaviare region of eastern Colombia, the first step in its reconquest of the former Gran Colombia.

Background
The end of the South American Wars of Liberation in 1826 left Spain's former South American colonies independent and divided, as well as with problems with political and economic stability. Independence leaders such as "the Great Liberator" Simon Bolivar lived to see the newly-independent South American countries devolve into warring states, and his grand country, Gran Colombia, disintegrated in 1831. It was then replaced by the three nations of Colombia (which then included Panama), Venezuela, and Ecuador.

Venezuela was a strongly militaristic country, honoring its past as the birthplace of the independence heroes Simon Bolivar, Antonio Jose de Sucre, Jose Antonio Paez, Francisco de Paula Santander, and other great generals. During the 1830s, the Conservative government began to make plans for the reconquest of Gran Colombia, as Venezuela's 18,000-strong army under Jose Gregorio Monagas was idling in Caracas without purpose. The Conservatives sought to rebuild Gran Colombia through a series of wars, and, ultimately, to unite Spain's former South American colonies under one banner.

War
On 22 November 1836, after using the media to increase fears of the Colombian menace, Venezuela declared war on Colombia, stating the conquest of the Guaviare region as its conquest. In early 1837, Monagas' army occupied Casanare, and the Conservatives and the nationalist Unitarians gained more seats in the government due to their support for the war effort. In an effort to distract the Venezuelans from their invasion of Guaviare, the Colombian general Francisco Jose Alfaro and an army of 10,800 troops invaded northern Venezuela, marching on Caracas. However, Monagas brought his army back north and into Venezuela, and he decisively defeated Alfaro at San Felipe on 21 February 1837, entirely destroying Alfaro's army. The Venezuelan army returned to invade Colombia, occupying Tunja and then entering the Colombian capital of Bogota on 27 July 1837. On 7 March 1838, Colombia agreed to surrender Guaviare to Venezuela in exchange for peace.

Aftermath
The conquest of Guaviare was the first step in Venezuela's reconquest of Gran Colombia, and its conquest also divided the main portion of Colombia from the country's lands in the Amazon. The two countries were at peace until 1842, bound by a truce; this led to Venezuela focusing on the gradual reconquest of Ecuador.